BMW i3 is an electrifying deal and a SUV for backup

Customers of BMW i3 can book a conventional auto like the full-sized X5 SUV for several weeks a year for family trips or as a backup

To avoid the fate of other slow-selling electric vehicles, Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) will offer the new i3 - a battery-powered compact car - with a unique option: the use of a sport-utility vehicle.

Customers of BMW's first electric model can book a conventional auto like the full-sized X5 SUV for several weeks a year for family trips or as a backup. The "add-on mobility" feature, for which BMW hasn't yet revealed pricing, is part of the manufacturer's effort to overcome a major concern about electric vehicles, namely getting stuck on the side of the road with a dead battery.

Other efforts to ease so-called range anxiety include an optional combustion engine to generate electricity on board, roadside assistance if the battery does lose charge during a trip, and a navigation system that shows charging stations.

The point is to avoid a high-profile flop as the company unveils the i3 at events on three continents. The prestige project has cost BMW more than $2.65 billion, according to the Center of Automotive Management in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany.

"The i3 is important in terms of image for BMW because it keeps alive the message that the company is daring ," said Carlos Da Silva, an analyst with IHS Automotive in Paris. BMW, the world's largest maker of luxury vehicles, is beating its chief rivals to electrics aimed at their core customers.

Volkswagen's Audi, the No. 2, will introduce a plug-in hybrid version of the A3 compact next year after halting plans for an electricpowered R8 sports car. Mercedes-Benz will sell an electric version of the B-Class compact in 2014.

BMW's push into electric cars started five years ago after CEO Norbert Reithofer set about shaking up the company's horsepower-focused culture. He invited former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and onetime left-wing radical and German foreign minister Joschka Fischer to speak to company executives about challenges the world faces, including increasingly crowded cities, dwindling natural resources and pollution.

Reithofer created a small team in 2008 led by Ulrich Kranz, the developer of the original BMW Mini, to look at what growing megacities might mean for the company.

The effort was dubbed Project i and has since evolved into the BMW i subbrand , the environmental counterpart to a high-performance line called BMW M. The i3 - a four-seat urban compact with a squat front end and plastic exterior - is the first car for the subbrand. Next will be the i8 hybrid supercar , which featured in the latest Mission: Impossible movie and will go on sale next year.

The i3, which goes on sale this fall, will start at $41,350 in the US.